


いってきます

by natsugumi



Category: A3! (Video Game)
Genre: Goodbyes, M/M, spoilers for the beginning of act 8
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24165040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsugumi/pseuds/natsugumi
Summary: Despite what Chikage wishes, Citron is standing on the other side, one hand on the suitcase handle and the other holding his phone. He looks up from the device when the door creaks and smiles at the unlucky granter of his fifth, but not final, wish."Chikage," Citron acknowledges, softly yet just as brightly as he would in the daytime. "Let's go?"Chikage gulps. The air is especially cold for a November night and he shrugs his jacket closer to himself. "Of course."or alternatively: citron's last wish for chikage
Relationships: Citron/Utsuki Chikage
Comments: 11
Kudos: 50





	いってきます

At precisely ten after three, Chikage hears the faint rolling of a suitcase outside of his door, and he knows it's his cue to leave.

Chigasaki is sound asleep in his bed, has been for over an hour, but Chikage still steps down his ladder with practiced silence. His car keys are where he left them on the coffee table and he softens their jingle in his grip as he slips them into his pocket. A sushi charm that Citron had won for him in a gacha machine glints traitorously at him before he hides it away in his jacket.

He ignores the memory. He's been ignoring a lot of memories lately - in his other pocket, a steel ring matching his own nearly burns a hole through the cloth. He almost takes it out; there's an empty space now on the table where his keys had once been, the perfect spot for Chikage's latest physical manifestation of his repressed emotions.

The ring stays in his pocket though and clacks against his phone when he adds it to his inventory. Chikage walks to the entryway of room 103 and pushes his feet into his slippers as he turns the knob of the door.

Despite what Chikage wishes, Citron is standing on the other side, one hand on the suitcase handle and the other holding his phone. He looks up from the device when the door creaks and smiles at the unlucky granter of his fifth, but not final, wish.

"Chikage," Citron acknowledges, softly yet just as brightly as he would in the daytime. "Let's go?"

Chikage gulps. The air is especially cold for a November night and he shrugs his jacket closer to himself. "Of course."

Chikage is pulling into the dropoff of the airport's international departures building when Citron mutters, "Thank you for taking care of me."

It's too close to goodbye for Chikage's liking. He blinks and sets the gearshift in park. "Are you sure this is what you wanted?"

"I didn't want to have a sorrowful goodbye with everyone," he explains, staring outside the passenger window. It's desolate, save for a single worker concerningly looking their way. Citron waves and gives them a thumbs up. "This is my last selfish wish."

_Selfish_. Chikage can't find it in himself to disagree. Citron is throwing away the troupe's final resolution with him - their final chance to say their goodbyes - to spare _his_ feelings. Of course it would be selfish, and yet Chikage desperately wants to tell him it's not. With everything that Citron gave him, the last thing he wants to call him is that.

The corners of Citron's lips go up just slightly at Chikage's contemplation. "I'm sorry for giving you an unlucky role," he says sympathetically as though he's the playwright of his escape.

"It's fine. This is the only thing I can do anyway," Chikage murmurs back. He thumbs at the ring still in his pocket, the metal cold from neglect.  
Citron's hand finds his as he reaches over the gear stick to Chikage's lap. "We'll meet each other again, so don't say goodbye so sellingly, okay?"

"...Could you perhaps mean sullenly?" Chikage forces a chuckle, his voice frigid and empty.

"That," Citron agrees. His thumb caresses Chikage's palm. "I...I lo - "

"Don't say it," Chikage yells. He meets Citron's eyes, wide from the interruption, and glares down at his own lap. "Don't say it," he rasps. "Please."

Citron leans back and sighs. "All right then," he surrenders. "But when I see you again, I'm saying it a thousand times."

"So you're planning on coming back, then?"

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Citron answers coyly. "You'll have to wait and see."

"I'll wait for you," Chikage promises. He uses his other hand to take his glasses off. Citron's expression is still captured perfectly in his gaze. "I'll wait for you until hell freezes over - but don't draw out my pain. Whatever you do over there, I'll still be waiting to say 'welcome back' here in Japan - in Mankai Company."

"I'll be waiting for the day I can say 'I'm home' then. I'll wait for you to come and get me." Citron brings Chikage's hand to his mouth and brushes his knuckles with his lips.

"Are you trying to make me fall in love with you again?" Chikage gazes at the - no, _his_ prince.

Citron laughs and plants another kiss on the back of his partner's hand. "No, this is a kiss of loyalty," he explains. "It's a custom in Zahra when you make a promise." Citron glances at the clock of the car and frowns. "I have thirty minutes until I'm supposed to board."

"You need to go," Chikage urges him. He takes his hand back and revives the engine.

Citron nods and slips out of his seat. He opens the door to the backseat and hauls his luggage out of the car before popping his head in through the open passenger window.

"Take care, alright?" Chikage chokes out.

"You too, Chikage. Take care of Spring Troupe for me."

Chikage blinks as a bittersweet smile makes its way onto his face. "Yeah, I will."

At that, Citron smiles, and with all of his belongings rolling behind him, he leaves Chikage alone in the car.

The drive back is unsettlingly silent. When Chikage walks into the front doors of the Mankai Company dorms, there's no "welcome back" to his "I'm home", and an unused ring a bit too small for Chikage to wear still sits in the pocket of his jacket.

**Author's Note:**

> "act 8 is the ckctit bible but specifically the fact that citron trusted chikage, after everything that he did, to let him leave early without the others knowing  
> and chikage agreeing to do it because he understood citrons feelings and cherishes him" - me last night at 1:25 am unknowingly cueing future me to spend an hour and a half writing this
> 
> i haven't flown since last summer (if that isn't already obvious during these times) so if airports don't actually have international departure buildings then. oops!  
> *itaru voice* haha senpai you are banging my boyfriend


End file.
